THE WEED!!

It’s known by so many names such as sensimilla, wee, weed, marijuana, skunk, high grade and what have you. Its simply called the weed because it distinguishes itself from other weeds. Like all narcotics, whether natural or synthetic (e.g.: cocaine, cocaine leaves, opium, marijuana) has generated so much controversy despite their numerous medicinal values.

Wisdom weed as it is sometimes referred to is rumored to have originated or first found in the gardens of the great king Solomon. Some schools of thought even have this to say about King Solomon using it for so many purposes. The weed is administered in many ways. It is taken orally by smoking, rolled in a piece of paper which sometimes resembles a stick of cigarette. If brewed it is also taken in the form of tea by drinking. At times it is also used as a food supplement. It is also said to keep evil spirits at bay and for the healing of Asthma. It is also used for industrial purposes to produce clothing and anchor rope used to tie down ships.

The smoking of the weed has landed so many in troubles than they had anticipated. Some are in jail for either possession or smoking of the weed and even cultivation. Some are jailed with hard labor and its consequent death to the dismay of some section of the minority and majority in society. There are statutory laws enacted in most countries against the ban of the weed and its possession is deemed unlawful and goes contrary to the tenets encoded in the constitution. People have been brutalized, eventually rendering others physically challenged in the process.
                                                               
I have not really taken the pain to find out why so much emphasis and its enforcement is paramount to many leaders and countries. They embark on passionate persecution of people who make use of the natural weed God has created. Sometimes I am tempted to think if anyone will be apprehended smoking the leaves of a neem tree.

Without fear or favor, I want to say my mind as a normal rational being that has been conscientized by God to reason, uphold and to promote his works. Cocaine is one of the many deadly narcotics which stimulate people beyond the limit they even want to reach. It can ruin a whole generation in a matter of years but we see the supposed big men in our societies peddling it. An example is the infamous MV Benjamin case which implicated so many big men who were supposed to be role models and people we look up to. Am yet to see a ‘small man’ engage in it. This people are still champions in our societies because they call the shots. Our cultural goal defined by this attitude and direction is money. There is more to life than calling shots. Life is about attaining a spiritual oneness with your maker. This people walk freely in our societies because we have not gathered enough evidence to gaol them.

Cigarette is another subtle drug with many hazardous chemicals which harms and kills people every day. It proposes many major health threats to a smoker and non smoker and they are all over the place backed by the same law that bans the smoke of marijuana. Cigarette has a lot of compositions that are artificially made, unlike the natural weed but has legal backing. Why?  The government makes way too much money in the form of tax what is the difference between these two substances? Maybe u can tell me. But to me, they are all smoke and can kill.

If it’s the packaging, then why can’t government give people the franchise to process it so they can get their share of the money they are always interested in, thereby creating jobs for people? There was an inscription on the pack of cigarette that read ‘smoking cigarette can be harmful to your health’ but now it reads ‘smoking cigarette can kill’ yet it is being produced in large quantities and consumed the same way. Who is the government kidding? Is it an issue of majority against minority? They are even listed on the stock market to boost sales.

                                                                               

If cigarette kills, then why would some sane men promote this deadly commodity on the market endorsed by the government? The government is made up of religious leaders, educationists, intellectuals, opinion leaders and people we look up to for direction. The least talked about those who smoke the better.

Coffee is another stimulant packaged nicely to get us hooked. Coffee has about 923 chemicals in it and the government has seen nothing wrong with it. Coffee can keep you awake all day like Valium and they are all legal.

Another slow poison we have internalized in our society is alcohol. This commodity is used on all sort of occasion and its very deadly, killing people every second of the day. Some get their livers burnt, some drink and drive resulting in accidents, some have lost their cherished virginity status through the use of alcohol, miscarriage, acted foolishly or divulged information they would not have given out even if they were threatened with death. We all like it and when the consequences of drinking surfaces, all we say is ‘oh!’, sometimes we mentally ostracize the people from society because we tag them as Retreatists.

Holland has legalized the use of the weed. It’s a very good step towards the right direction in my opinion for other countries to emulate because there is no difference between the people of Ghana, U.S.A., U.K., and the people of Holland. We are all one people, and its sheer hypocrisy. The government gives people license to use the gun, yet anytime a gun is used, a person dies. Licenses are also given for cars to be driven and it also kills, so why can’t the government allow the people to smoke the weed and die like that of cigarette smokers who will die anyway? Thought education is supposed to liberate us from all this petty irrational setbacks?

There is this perpetuated myth that the weed drives people mad; but tell me, what in this world does not make people affective people? The effect of the weed solely depends on the excessive use and later become an addictive dependent on an individual. There is no scientific proof to back this assertion just like there is none to back the fact that too much studying can drive people mad, just like there is none to back the fact that people renegade on the orders of deities they look up to and go mad.  They are all propaganda to get our minds off the wrong doings of the government.

Maybe the government is apprehensive on the smokers because it is trying to save them from self-destruct, but the big and multi-dollar question still remains. Does government cares about the people? How does he express his care for those who don’t smoke? If it was, it would not promote cigarette and alcohol and not regulate it. The government is just selfish and insensitive to the people they govern.

We can’t pretend we are not confronted with a menace. The people who smoke the weed and are intend labeled and stigmatized are not aliens. They are/were our friends or family members in the society. All of us have a brother or a sister who smokes whether occasionally or excessively, therefore the self-righteousness must stop so we can approach this issue dispassionately and find lasting solutions to it.

The big issue here is that we don’t have to buy into government’s propaganda and be rational in our approach to these things that pertains in our society. It predates us and we can do less about it. If weed is banned and its use makes the user evil and socially unfit, then some social drugs such the alcohol, which impairs vision and dismantles the mental judgments of a drinker should also be banned. And same should go for all forms of smoke, be it cigarette, cigar and tobacco. The government should try and preserve a smoke free environment and stop the excessive hypocrisy about the democracy they are pursuing.
                                                                     
Lastly, let’s stop being judgmental and quick to tag people who use the weed for there is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it behooves all of us to stop talking about those who use the weed. There may be many reasons as to why a person might be under the influence of the weed.